


Seven Years Gone

by suitesamba



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcoholism, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-07
Updated: 2013-07-07
Packaged: 2017-12-17 23:12:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/873051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suitesamba/pseuds/suitesamba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven years after his partner’s death, Harry has rebuilt his life with his friends’ help, but hasn’t managed to move forward romantically. Teddy Lupin, 28, is back in London for good after years of studying and working abroad. When he finds himself in need of some extra space at his new shop, he consults with Harry and Hermione, who have built a successful business around creating Wizarding Space. Teddy Lupin, all grown up and self-assured, is not at all what Harry expected, but may be just what Harry needs to solve his seven-year itch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seven Years Gone

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for my pal Roozetter, who left a prompt for the 2013 HP Rarefest. She wanted Harry/Teddy and this scenario: Teddy has been out of the country for some time. He's back now, and he and Harry can finally get to know each other as adults.
> 
> Because this pairing can seem incestuous, I wrote a Teddy whose grandmother (Andromeda) remarried while Teddy was small, giving him a father figure in his life other than Harry.

~*~

Harry pulled up the blinds on Tuesday morning to find Teddy’s owl waiting patiently on the window sill. It was a beautiful snowy owl, undoubtedly one of the sons or daughters of the first owl Teddy had owned, the one Harry had gifted him the summer before he went off to Hogwarts seventeen years ago. He opened the window and the owl stepped onto the tea table and looked at him imploringly.

“Letter first,” he demanded. The owl dutifully stuck out its leg and Harry removed the scroll then took an owl treat out of a sugar bowl and tossed it over. The owl nabbed another treat as Harry sank down onto one of the three chairs surrounding the table to read the letter.

“Owl post?” asked Hermione a few minutes later as she placed a tea tray on the table and sat down across from him. 

Harry looked up and smiled. “A letter from Teddy,” he said. The corners of his eyes crinkled behind his frameless glasses. “He’d like to hire us.”

“Hire us?” She scanned the letter quickly, smoothing it out on the table while Harry poured tea for himself and added sugar and a splash of milk.

“Oh, this is wonderful.” She smiled as she spoke, and Harry appreciated the genuine warmth in her voice. “He’s opened his own shop already. He only finished his apprenticeship with Neville two or three years ago, didn’t he?”

“Two,” said Harry. “Right before Victoire’s wedding. He went to Ardmore’s just after –remember?.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Hermione said. “It’s hard to believe those two dated, isn’t it?” she asked.

“She’s a beautiful girl,” Harry said vaguely.

“And he’s quite handsome, isn’t he? Those dimples…those eyes….” She laughed, catching Harry’s look. “Besides, Teddy doesn’t like beautiful girls.” She looked sidelong at Harry. “Not anymore.”

Harry chuckled. “He was a little late figuring it all out.”

“Well, you and Jack certainly helped him along, taking him out that night Victoire broke up with him,” Hermione said in her pretend-to-scold voice. 

“I’m glad we had that chance,” said Harry. “We hardly saw him after that—not for years, really, what with Teddy doing his mastery in Thailand.” He stared into his teacup. “He was here for the funeral….”

“Of course he was,” said Hermione. She reached across the table and squeezed Harry’s hand. “And you’ll get to see him more now that he’s in London. Ardmore’s is a fine establishment, but he may never have gotten away from their Eastern Europe location if he’d stayed with them.” She picked up the letter again. “Did you know he was planning to open his own shop?”

Harry shook his head. He smiled apologetically. “I haven’t kept up with him much these last few years,” he admitted. “We’ve been so busy with the new business, and he’s been trying to get established.”

“The business isn’t so new anymore,” Hermione chastised softly. “We opened it nearly five years ago.”

“Five years?” he said with an easy grin. He warmed up his tea. “It’s too bad Teddy wasn’t more interested in charms than plants and potions. He could have apprenticed with us.”

“We’re going to have a difficult enough time with Rose.”

They looked at each other and grinned.

“She’ll keep us on our toes,” said Harry. “She’s as smart as her mother and even more sure of herself.”

“Well, she has to finish her mastery first,” said Hermione. “We have a couple years of peace and quiet still.”

“Thank Merlin,” said Harry. He held out his hand for the letter. “Why don’t I write him back and suggest we come by his new place and take a look? We can stop by tomorrow.”

“He’ll be a _paying_ customer.” Hermione looked serious. 

“Hermione ….”

“He can afford our services,” said Hermione. “If we keep giving them away, we’ll never make it into a bigger office.” She looked around at the small room and sighed.

“Why do we need a bigger office?” asked Harry. He, too, glanced around. “We create Wizard space. We do all of our work on site. All we do here is fill out reports and answer correspondence.”

“And drink tea,” said Hermione. “Lots of tea.”

Harry glanced up at her, an odd look on his face.

“You know I….”

“I didn’t mean anything by it, Harry,” she assured him, smiling with an ease born of familiarity. 

“I wish I _could_ handle more than tea, though,” he said. There was anger in his voice, but buried under several layers of acceptance. “It would be nice to be able to have a pint with Ron on a Friday night.”

“Ron doesn’t care about where you get together or what you do,” she said. “He just wants time with you. He’d meet you at Madam Puddifoot’s if you asked him to. He can go to the pub with one of his brothers.”

“But I’m his best mate.” Harry knew he sounded petulant.

“You’re the best mate that spent the better part of two years in a drunken stupor after losing Jack and giving up your career.” Her voice was soft, only slightly maternal, reminding him gently that they were all happy to have that time behind them.

“Well, you took care of the career part, didn’t you?” he said. He sounded proud, despite the teasing. “You know I’ll never be able to thank you enough for doing this—walking away from your own career, too.”

“It was the right timing,” said Hermione. “Both the kids were at Hogwarts. And honestly, Harry, I was bored with my Ministry job. Designing and creating Wizarding space for people like Dean and Teddy who deal with Muggles—well, it’s never once been boring, has it?”

“You’re thinking of that brothel in Amsterdam, aren’t you?” he teased.

Hermione turned pink. She always turned pink when he brought up that particular project.

“Teddy needs protected space for his magical plants, and a hidden rooftop greenhouse. It sounds perfectly normal to me….”

“Are you sure? No wizarding walk-through mirrors to secret playrooms?”

“Harry Potter!” Hermione was grinning through her blush. “This is Teddy we’re talking about. Teddy! He has his mastery in magical botany, not in the _Kama Sutra_!”

Harry grinned. Hermione blushed—again.

“The _Kama Sutra_ , eh? And I thought there was a book out there somewhere in the world that Hermione Granger-Weasley _hadn’t_ read.”

“A purely academic study, of course,” she said with a small grin.

“Of course,” he repeated, grinning back. “You know, _this_ is what I’d be talking to Ron about at the pub.”

“Well, something good has come out of your sobriety then, hasn’t it?”

“Quite a few things, actually,” he answered. “Though I don’t meet a lot of blokes at Madam Puddifoot’s.”

“You don’t meet a lot of blokes, period,” said Hermione. “You work all the time, Harry. Don’t you think it’s time to start dating again?”

He gave her the look. The one that said ‘Don’t go there.’ 

“Don’t give me that look! Harry – it’s been years. You’ve got to be lonely. Jack wouldn’t….”

“I know what he’d want,” Harry said, cutting her off. “He’d want to be here. With me. So enough. And anyway – I have dated. How many times have you set me up, anyway? What about Ginny’s brother-in-law? That ex-Quidditch player?”

“You humor me, Harry. I doubt you ever see any of them a second time.”

“Maybe I’m just waiting for the right guy to sweep me off my feet,” he said. _Like Jack did._

Hermione smiled and shrugged. “Alright then. Why don’t you write Teddy back, then we can drop by Malfoy’s to deliver the new proposal.”

“I hate dealing with Malfoy,” complained Harry. “He’s such a prick.”

“A prick whose business supplied a third of our revenue last year,” said Hermione. “We wouldn’t depend so much on him if you actually let us accept payment from our family and friends.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Duly noted,” he said. He grinned. “Let’s hurry. If we get there by ten thirty, we’ll be in time for scones. Those scones almost make up for his prickishness.”

“That’s not a word,” she said.

“Of course it is,” he retorted. “Look it up – it’s in the _Kama Sutra_.”

Hermione rolled her eyes as Harry grinned and picked up his quill.

~*^*~

Teddy Lupin looked again at the letter that had come the day before.

_Dear Teddy:_

He smiled. Harry was one of the people that still called him Teddy when most everyone else had switched to Ted. Well, Harry had known him since he was born, and old habits are hard to break. He hadn’t had to play father to Teddy, though, since Gran had remarried when he was so young. Aubrey had moved in with his twelve-year old daughter Gwen when Teddy was only three, and from then on they’d been a family of four. He’d seen Harry often, and loved nothing better in those pre-Hogwarts days than having Harry take him up on his broom, or spending an hour or two in Diagon Alley with him. But once he was off at Hogwarts, there weren’t as many opportunities. And then there were his Uni studies, then his mastery work and after that, his apprenticeship with Neville. 

And then he’d gone off to Kiev to work for Ardmore’s. 

Harry had met Jack just before Teddy went off to Hogwarts. They’d stayed together, inseparable partners in the Aurors and in life. Harry and Jack had taken him out on the town when Victoire had broken up with him the day she left Hogwarts. That had certainly been an eye-opening experience- both the break-up and the ‘help him forget her by giving him something else to think about’ extravaganza that followed. Teddy smiled, even now, remembering that bar with its music and mood and men, Harry and Jack pulling him onto the crowded dance floor. Strangers – men, all of them – pressing in around them. 

But Jack had been killed while Teddy was at Uni, and Harry had walked away from the Aurors. He’d walked away from nearly everything and everyone in fact, at least for a time. It had taken him two years to start to get back on his feet. Hermione had been the one who’d finally managed to reach him, quitting her own job at the Ministry and putting it all on the line in a new business venture with Harry. Teddy had seen him only a handful of times since then. On the surface, Harry had been the same Harry, but grief had left him hollow inside.

And during that time, during the years since Jack had died, Teddy himself had grown up. He’d gotten over the lovely Victoire much faster than he’d dreamed possible. He’d had nothing to compare to her since, not after that first night out with Harry and Jack, when they caught him staring at the waiter at the restaurant, then hauled him to their favorite club. He’d seen pretty women since, and they’d turned his head once or twice, but he found that, for him anyway, he preferred the company of men.

It had caused a terrible row with Gran. She thought he was simply on the rebound, that Victoire had hurt him so deeply that he wouldn’t consider another lovely young woman. When it became obvious that it was more than that, she blamed Harry for pointing his head in the wrong direction. It took a terrible blow up at her house the winter after the break-up to put it to rights again. Gran was mourning. He understood that now. Mourning the children he wouldn’t have, the babies she wouldn’t rock. It was irrational, but real nonetheless. Harry stayed late that night, even after Jack had Flooed home, even after Gramps had gone to bed, talking quietly with Gran, answering all her questions, at one point crouching down in front of her as she sat on the sofa, holding her hands and looking into her eyes, telling her how happy he was with Jack. How very complete his life was.

How many years ago had that been? When Harry’s eyes still held that glint of love? 

Teddy thought he’d had that with Victoire, but after seeing Harry and Jack, knew that he’d never felt anything approaching that kind of love.

He’d loved Harry, in a new way, since that night at Gran’s. Had seen him in a different way than he’d seen him before. His childhood hero changed into the kind of man he’d like to be himself. Honest. Real. Comfortable in his own skin. 

Now, he found himself rearranging the bonsai display on the counter as he obsessively watched the door and tapped his foot on the wooden floor, counting down the minutes.

He checked his reflection. He’d long ago learned to control his Metamorphmagus abilities. His hair no longer turned turquoise when he was happy, and while he could change his nose or other features at will, those features didn’t change without his conscious thought anymore, to match the pointy nose of Gran’s nosy neighbor when she visited, or the prominent cleft chin of Gramp’s brother Ned. 

He’d never known his parents, but knew he had his dad’s hair and eyes, his mum’s nose and mouth. He was tall, and lean, and slightly clumsy when he was nervous or tired. His clumsiness, too, he’d learned to control. But Gran, and anyone who’d known his mum, seemed to find it endearing, even if it occasionally had resulted in a broken tea service or a scuff on the wall. Guys seemed to like him, but he didn’t think too much about his looks. They were what they were, Metamorphmagus or no.

He settled on the high stool behind the counter and wiped his sweaty hands on his trousers.

It was Harry. _Harry_. Why was he so nervous?

Maybe because he was finished with school and masteries and his apprenticeship and was established in London.

Ready to move on with the _living_ part of his life. 

The door opened at exactly three forty-five.

Hermione came in first, carrying a portfolio. Harry followed her in. Like Hermione, he was dressed in Muggle clothes. Teddy stood and tried not to stare. Harry looked fit. Good. Really good, in fact. Teddy met Harry’s green eyes, blushing through his smile. 

Hermione hugged him first, then Harry’s hand came down to rest on his shoulder as he looked around the shop. He grinned then, and hugged him. “Wow, Teddy. You look great! And this place…”

“You like it?” Teddy took a quick step backward, away from the warmth of Harry’s embrace, collecting himself. It was just a friendly hug. A simple hand on his shoulder. _Harry’s_ hand. Harry caught his eye as he moved away, and he blushed again.

“It’s lovely,” said Hermione. “Really, Teddy, you couldn’t have done better.” She looked around again, then up, admiring the high ceilings and the open layout. “We can do so much here,” she said, in a near-gush that was not Hermione-like at all. “You have so much to work with.”

Harry snorted. Hermione shook her head at him. “You’ll have to forgive him, Teddy. He’s on a self-imposed celibacy streak.” Harry glared at her, but she stared him down. The corner of his mouth lifted in a restrained half-smile.

“Well you’re right. He does, doesn’t he?” he agreed. “Have a lot to work with, I mean.” He gave Teddy an appraising look, the most minute nod, approving. “We’ve just come from Dean Thomas’ studio,” he said, easing the conversation into neutral territory, away from that spark of acknowledgment. “We set him up with something similar to what you’re looking for. He has wizard and Muggle clients, and we used the same concept as the barrier at Platform 9 ¾ to separate his magical and Muggle galleries.”

“That’s exactly what I need,” said Teddy. He followed Hermione as she walked toward the rear of the shop. “Here’s the space I’d like to use for the more dangerous plants.” He opened the door and Hermione peeked in while Harry stood behind, looking over her shoulder. 

“I can see why you called us,” said Harry. “You’ve got room for a couple head of Chinese Chomping Cabbage but not much more.”

“We can definitely work with this,” said Hermione. She’d stepped into the cupboard and was staring at the ceiling, sliding her hands over the unfinished walls. She nodded and stepped back into the shop. “Why don’t we sit down and sketch out exactly what you’re envisioning?”

They settled around a tall table behind the counter. Hermione took the seat beside Teddy and Harry settled across from them, still glancing around the shop. Hermione got right down to business, opening a roll of blank parchment, sketching out some ideas, asking a dozen and one questions, and jotting down information on a separate legal pad. At one point, Teddy, looking dazed and not a small bit confused, looked up at Harry to catch Harry staring at him.

“She’s like this all the time when we start a project,” Harry said with a smile. “I just sit back and wait for her to tell me what to do. I’m useless at planning.”

“Don’t listen to him,” said Hermione. She kept sketching, not looking up as Harry rolled his eyes and Teddy grinned. “Harry’s a whiz with the charms. In fact, he’s created most of them himself.”

Teddy raised an eyebrow. “Another of your many talents, eh?” he asked. “Anything you can’t do?”

Harry glanced at Hermione, then sighed. “I’m awful at driving a Muggle car. Ron tried to teach me and I drove it right into the pond at the Burrow.” 

Now Hermione rolled her eyes. “You’d have thought he’d be a better driver considering what he can do on a broom.” 

“I can teach you to drive,” offered Teddy. “If you’re interested. Or we could go flying. I still have that Firebolt Classic.”

Harry glanced at Hermione, but she was buried in her sketching. “The one I gave you while you were at Hogwarts?” 

Teddy nodded. He’d been on top of the world for a week when that broom had been delivered to Hogwarts and had always treasured it, even when it was outpaced by newer models.

“Maybe we should go try it out while Hermione finishes up here and takes the measurements,” suggested Harry.

“Think again,” said Hermione. “In fact, you can go on up to the roof and get the dimensions for me.”

“I’ll show you up,” said Teddy.

“Remember to account for overhead electrical wires,” Hermione said distractedly as she frowned at the parchment. 

“I know the drill, boss,” Harry said pleasantly. He turned to Teddy. “Ready when you are, Captain.”

Teddy led him out of the room and up a narrow stairway at the back of the building. They climbed up three flights of stairs then stepped out onto a flat, sunny roof. Teddy’s letter had told them that he wanted to grow the majority of his plants here on the shop’s rooftop.

“I’d like to do most of my cultivation up here,” said Teddy as Harry pointed his wand at a corner and began the measuring spells. “The light and exposure are perfect.” He walked toward the side of the building. “But there’s no privacy.” He pointed to a clothesline stretching across the back of a neighboring roof, chairs arranged in a conversation group on another.

Harry nodded. His gaze moved from the neighboring roofs back to Teddy’s roof, then to Teddy himself. He shook his head, staring unabashedly at him.

“I keep expecting you to be that lanky teen we took to the Bear Pit all those years ago. I don’t even know you, do I?” he asked, forgetting, for a moment, the task Hermione had set him. “Merlin, Teddy, you’re nothing like I remember and I’ve known you my entire life.” He shook his head, half apologetically.

Teddy shrugged. “I think we’ve both changed a bit the last years,” he said. “You’re different too, Harry.”

Now it was Harry’s turn to shrug. “You can thank Hermione for that – well, if that was a compliment, anyway.” He looked out over the street below them. “I wasn’t myself for a few years, you know. She gave me the key out of the hell I’d locked myself in.”

“She’s fantastic,” said Teddy. “I’m glad she was there for you.” He had walked to the front of the building and stood beside Harry. They watched a woman push a pram by on the sidewalk. “I wish I could have been more help.”

Harry shook his head dismissively. “No. You had your life. Your studies. And…” He paused. His eyes fixed on Teddy again as if his brain couldn’t process what he was seeing. “Merlin, Teddy. _Look_ at you. You’re got your own business, and marketing plans, and expansion designs....” The look he gave Teddy, though certainly familiar, was not the proud look of a favorite uncle or godfather. 

Teddy fidgeted. Now that he was alone here with Harry, he found himself unaccountably nervous. Harry was everything he remembered him being – and so much more. When he was in Hogwarts, he’d loved Harry. Well, everyone had loved Harry, of course, but Teddy had admired him in that hero sort of way. He’d been privileged to know more about Harry than most everyone else at school. He didn’t really know when that admiration became something of a crush – certainly not until he himself had realized, after Victoire, that there would be no more women in his life. If it started while Harry was still with Jack, he’d never admit it. Besides, back then, it was Jack Teddy had found attractive, in a guilty sort of way, and Harry who he’d held apart, untouchable, placed on the highest of pedestals. He’d been stupidly jealous of them, when they had been so happy together, when he’d been lost without the security and surety of Victoire, looking for something – someone - different. Floundering. 

Guilty, now, that Jack was gone and Harry was here. And that he, Teddy, was here. All grown up, as Harry said. Looking at Harry with new eyes.

It was impossible not to. He was twenty-eight, after all. He was alone. And so, it seemed, was Harry. 

Which was not sufficient reason, by itself, to reassess their relationship. 

He didn’t really need a reason, though, did he?

Well, nothing for it.

“We should go out for a drink, Harry,” he said. He hoped he didn’t sound as nervous and impulsive as he felt. His voice trailed off as he watched Harry’s face fall.

“Oh, Teddy, I’m sorry….”

“As mates,” said Teddy, hurrying to cover his disappointment and giving what he hoped was a convincing smile. “That’s all I meant. You can fill me in on your business with Hermione and I can catch you up on Gran and Gramps and the family.”

Harry was looking at him oddly. “No, Teddy. You don’t understand,” he said. He stood up straighter and lowered his voice. “I don’t drink anymore- can’t drink. I lost control after Jack was killed. Was a bloody mess for close to two years.” He looked down at the street, lowering his voice. “Nearly destroyed what was left of my life.”

Teddy stared at him. He felt horribly guilty for wanting to laugh with relief. Harry wasn’t rejecting the idea of going out with him. He just couldn’t go out for _drinks_.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” he stuttered. “I didn’t know.”

“No, I expect you didn’t,” said Harry lightly, teasing. “Else you wouldn’t have invited me out for a drink.”

“No. That would have been utterly stupid,” agreed Teddy, mentally kicking himself.

“But dinner would be nice,” Harry said cautiously, half-frowning as he tried to read Teddy’s expression. 

They turned at a noise behind them and greeted Hermione as she came out onto the roof.

“Gorgeous!” she said, taking it all in.

She might have been talking about the layout and the view, but Teddy’s eyes were all for Harry.

And Hermione, sharp as she was, didn’t miss a thing.

~*~

“You look fine, Harry. Get a grip – you act like you’re going on a date,” said Ron.

“I _am_ going on a date, you idiot.” Harry pulled off his belt and tossed it on the bed, reaching for another.

“A date date?” Ron looked mildly horrified.

“Yeah.” Harry grinned. “At least I think so.”

“You’re going on a date with your _godson_?” 

“He’s twenty-eight, Ron, not fourteen! And he’s not actually _related_ to me.” Harry finished buckling the new belt and sighed.

“He’s twenty-eight?” Ron had moved on mentally. “When did he get to be twenty-eight?” 

“Back in March,” answered Harry. He sat on his bed and pulled on one sock then stopped and looked up at Ron. “Do you think it’s strange, then? Me going out with Teddy?”

Ron shrugged. “Kind of. I can’t help but think of him as a kid – or as Victoire’s boyfriend. Or your godson. Like Hugo.”

“Not like Hugo at all, Ron.” Harry studied his best friend’s face. “I was what – twenty eight – when Hugo was born? I was ready to take the job seriously. I tried with Teddy – I really did – but I’m glad Andromeda got married again. Gave him a better male role model and all. I was pants at it.”

Ron laughed. “I would have killed for a godfather like you, Harry. And not just because you gave the best presents, either. You loved that kid. I remember when you first joined the Aurors and he was your inspiration. You wanted the world to be a better place for him.” He tossed one of Harry’s shoes to him. “So, you really think this is a date, then?”

“I think he wants it to be.”

Ron leaned against the chest of drawers.

“Do you want it to be?”

Harry busied himself with tying his shoes.

“You know, mate, this is the first time since…well, the first time you’ve gone on a date – voluntarily, anyway.”

Harry sat back on the bed. “Yeah, it is. Isn’t it? He suggested we go out for a drink, and was all awkward about it when he saw my face.”

“Right.” Ron picked up a sickle from Harry’s dresser. He tossed it in the air and caught it, then looked at it again and put it back down on the dresser. “Is that going to be a problem for you – if he gets a drink?”

“You know, you _can_ drink around me, Ron. I’m an adult. I can handle it.”

Ron shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me.” His face turned serious. “But Teddy doesn’t know, not really. Even if you told him, Harry. He wasn’t here. He didn’t see you when it was so bad….”

Harry stood and put a hand on Ron’s arm. “You’re going to have to trust me, Ron. Adult and all, remember?”

Ron looked at Harry a long moment. He shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m worried about Teddy. Just protective, is all. We’ve got a lot invested in you, Harry.”

Harry was checking his reflection in the mirror – again. He smiled at Ron behind him. “I have a lot invested in me too, you realize,” he said. “And frankly, I could use some male companionship.”

Ron opened his mouth and Harry held up his hand.

“I know, I know. You’ve been telling me that for what – five years now?”

Ron had an odd look on his face. Both pleased and slightly embarrassed. “Well, it’s about time,” he said. “And honestly – why not Teddy? He’s someone I can trust. Not after your money, or your fame. Right?”

Harry grinned. “Right. Not after my money or my fame. Must be after my stunning good looks, then.” He picked up his jacket. “First date, Ron. Better not tell your mum yet – she has a soft spot for Teddy and she’ll never let me be.”

“She hasn’t had a wedding in forever,” said Ron. He was teasing, and Harry grinned. 

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, Ron.” He grabbed his wallet off his chest of drawers and pocked it. “I have to run. I’m sure Hermione will grill me for the details tomorrow and will fill you in.”

He checked his reflection one more time, ran his hand through his unruly fringe, then squared his shoulders, nodded at himself in the mirror, and left his flat, leaving Ron poking around in the refrigerator.

/

The restaurant Teddy chose was the perfect blend of casual and intimate. Harry was impressed, even though he was nervous. First dates always put him on edge; apparently, that was true even when he’d known his date since he was a baby.

He’d arrived just on time, and found Teddy waiting for him, standing in the doorway reading the bills posted on the window. Harry didn’t think he’d have recognized Teddy if he hadn’t been looking for him. He’d gone from gangly teen to attractive, broad-shouldered man in the blink of an eye. 

He looked up and smiled as Harry approached, then faltered. Harry could tell he didn’t know how to greet Harry. Offer his hand? Hug? Peck on the cheek? What was the proper way to greet someone you knew so well on your first date?

Harry solved it for him. He reached for his hand and pulled him forward, giving him a half-hug that somehow managed to not grow awkward.

“You look great.”

Teddy spoke low, close to his ear, and the greeting set the tone for the evening.

A date. With focus on each other, and not the family, or the weather, or the goings on at the Ministry or at Hogwarts.

Not that those subjects didn’t pop up from time to time over the two hours they spent in the restaurant, but overall, as Harry ordered coffee and Teddy ordered dessert, he thought it was the best first date he’d had in…. 

Well, in forever.

He hadn’t had any first dates – ever – where he felt as comfortable with his date, like he’d known him forever.

Right, he told himself. Because he _had_. It was like dating Ron.

Except it wasn’t. 

Teddy was so _focused_ on him. So interested. So intense.

“So – you’re not seeing anyone, then?” Harry asked, out of the blue, during a quiet lull in the conversation.

Teddy shook his head. “One of my mates from Hogwarts set me up with a couple of weeks ago but it didn’t go anywhere. I had a boyfriend for a year or so in Kiev. We broke up a few months before I moved back.”

“Oh. That’s good.” Harry laughed. “That’s not what I mean – good that you’re not attached now, anyway, right?”

“How about you? Did Hermione mean it when she said…?”

Harry nodded. “I haven’t had a second date with anyone since…since Jack died,” he said quietly. 

Teddy reached a hand across the table and squeezed Harry’s. “Maybe I can break that run,” he said.

And Harry smiled.

It was easy to see Teddy with new eyes when they were quietly discussing modern wizarding business development, or grinning like idiots over the waiter who unabashedly flirted with Harry, or discovering similar tastes in music and a shared love of strong coffee. 

It was early enough to catch a late movie when they left the restaurant, so they settled on an art film neither had ever heard of, something with subtitles and prestigious awards, and they came out, two hours later, Teddy laughing, Harry rolling his eyes and saying “That was so _Hermione_.” But it was perfect timing for coffee, then a walk back to Teddy’s place. Harry would Apparate home from there. _If I make it home tonight_. The thought niggled at his brain and he tucked it away. Harry was relaxed, and happy – for the first time in years not dreading the end of the date. Instead of dreading it, he was open to whatever might happen when Teddy opened that door….

_You haven’t even kissed him yet and you’re thinking about spending the night._

They walked side by side, and Teddy’s fingers brushed Harry’s back, and Harry wanted to stop where they were and kiss Teddy, taste the lips he’d stared at across the dinner table for two hours, but he settled for wrapping his hand around Teddy’s waist, and felt Teddy drape his arm across his back and curl his hand around his side. 

Harry waited while Teddy unlocked the door with a whispered _Alohomora_ , then leaned in and stole a quick first kiss while Teddy’s hand was on the doorknob. Teddy – nervous, anxious, fumbling, _wanting_ – leaned too heavily on the door as Harry’s mouth moved over his, and the door swung open. They stumbled inside, almost falling into the foyer.

Which proved advantageous, as they were suddenly alone, in the near dark, and very much in each other’s personal space. 

Harry had more or less fallen into Teddy’s shoulder when they stumbled inside, so it was all too easy to wrap an arm around his middle and pull him closer still.

Merlin he smelled good. Clean and natural and Harry’s lips fit perfectly on the corner of his mouth, continuing the kind of kiss he’d never given Teddy Lupin before. The kind of kiss he hadn’t given anyone in longer than he cared to remember.

And Teddy Lupin knew how to kiss.

Or perhaps he kissed how Harry liked to _be_ kissed.

While Harry had initiated the kiss, sliding lips slowly from the corner of Teddy’s warm mouth to his full upper lip, wrapping his other arm around his neck and drawing his head down, Teddy soon set a new pace, responding to the slide of Harry’s lips by using his greater height to reverse their positions, pressing Harry into the wall beside the door. Harry grasped Teddy even tighter.

“Merlin you feel good.” He sucked at Teddy’s jawline, moved his mouth to press a slow kiss on the soft skin between stubbled cheek and ear. Teddy shuddered, his hands moving to Harry’s hips, then behind him to cup his arse. His hands were slow and smooth and strong and sure and just _exactly_ what Harry loved. Strong enough to still him, gentle enough to allow him movement, to let him press forward into Teddy as his hand slipped into the thick hair and pulled that mouth even closer. Teddy was kneading his bum now, letting Harry lead with his mouth even as he followed with his hands.

“This is alright?” Teddy asked, breathy and tentative.

“More than alright,” Harry answered. He shuddered as Teddy bit down lightly at the base of his neck, then blew softly across his damp skin. _Fuck._ How did he _know_ what Harry loved?

Harry pulled back a few minutes later, ending a lingering kiss, then burying his head against Teddy’s neck. Teddy’s arms wrapped around him as he waited for their breathing to slow. If he didn’t leave soon he’d never be able to go. But leaving now, letting go of Teddy, now seemed like a ridiculous, unnecessary idea.

“Do you want to stay?” asked Teddy, tense and hopeful.

Harry laughed.

Teddy had the intelligence not to misinterpret it as a dismissal.

“Yes. I want to stay.” Harry disentangled himself from Teddy’s arms and took a step back. “And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think we should slow down.” He smirked as Teddy opened his mouth to speak, and help up his hand. “No, wait. This thing – you and me – God, Teddy. I like you. I really like you. I know I could like you a lot more, even. But you’re twenty-eight and I’m forty-five, and if we’re going to do this, we may just find that we like each other and want to do it again, and again. And if that’s the case, we need to embrace it – embrace _us_ \- and be ready to go on with it, no matter what anyone says. We need to _think_ about it.”

Teddy frowned. “I’m not eighteen, Harry.” His eyes swept down over Harry and he bit back a smile. Harry was just as aroused as he was. He’d always loved Harry’s eyes, but they took on a new brilliance in the foyer, lit only by the streetlights outside and the burning desire from within. And his lips - his lips looked decidedly well-kissed. “And who’s going to say anything? And if they do, why would we care?”

“Would you care if your Gran didn’t approve? If she thinks I’m too old? Too close? Taking advantage of you?”

Teddy didn’t answer at first. He sighed, then slid down the wall and sat against it, on the floor. Harry settled on his knees in front of him, watching Teddy’s face, feeling guilty and rather stupid for slowing things down, especially when he wanted this so much. He leaned forward again and kissed Teddy, more hungrily, running his tongue between his lips as Teddy responded, sweeping his tongue over his gumline, then plunging it in to meet his own. Teddy panted as he pulled him forward until Harry was straddling him, Teddy’s hands on his arse, tugging gently at the waistband of his trousers.

“You move pretty quickly for an old man.”

“You’d be surprised how flexible I can be,” breathed Harry. He kissed the corner of Teddy’s mouth. “That was a terrible line, wasn’t it? I can’t even believe I said that.”

“I’m hoping it’s true,” choked out Teddy as Harry sucked his earlobe into his warm mouth and Teddy ran his hands over and over his bum. “I’ve always loved your arse,” he said roughly. 

“I doubt you’ve _always_ loved it,” Harry answered, pushing back into Teddy’s hands.

“Alright. I’ve loved it since I figured out I like men – and their arses,” Teddy said, cupping said arse as he pushed up with his groin, desperately seeking more contact.

The edge in his voice, just this side of desperation, was almost too much for Harry. Teddy’s fingers clutched into Harry’s flesh through his trousers, and it was all Harry could do to not lay his land on the prominent bulge along Teddy’s thigh.

“You want this,” said Teddy. He breathed into Harry’s ear, rubbed his rough chin on the side of his neck. “I want it. It could work. It’s the right time. We’re both here in London. We’re both available. We like each other. We _know_ each other. We had a great time this evening. And it’s not just…sex…ohhh fuck.”

Harry didn’t deny it. He wanted Teddy. He wanted to lie naked, skin to skin, on Teddy’s bed. He wanted Teddy’s hands on him, Teddy’s lips on him, Teddy’s cock in him.

Teddy shifted, pressing upward again with a groan, and Harry closed in on Teddy’s mouth, hand dropping slowly, deliberately, to Teddy’s lap, where his fingers skirted over the bulge, tracing it down and fingering the head through the fabric. He spoke against Teddy’s cheek as Teddy let out a long breath, his hand working the font of Harry’s trousers now, searching for the closure.

“You’ll never suggest – ever again – that we see a movie with subtitles. Agreed?” Harry squeezed his hand slowly, then ran a hand over Teddy’s chest, grazing a nipple. Teddy hissed his answer.

“Yessss. Of course. No subtitles.”

“And when the _Prophet_ gets hold of this and suggests a godfather shouldn’t be shagging his godson?”

“Or a godson shouldn’t be shagging his godfather?” returned Teddy coyly. He’d worked the trouser button open and was pulling at the zip.

Harry moved his hands to Teddy’s shoulders, scooted forward and deliberately sat back on Teddy’s erection, sliding back and forth, eyes fixed on Teddy’s dilated pupils. “Well?”

“We’re not…we’re not related…by blood. You didn’t raise…me.”

Harry slid forward again, feeling Teddy’s hard length beneath him. He squeezed his arse cheeks together and Teddy moaned.

“And…?” he prompted, brushing a hand across Teddy’s shirt again.

“I’m an adult. You’re an adult. We’re doing…adult…things. Private things. Fuck, Harry!”

Harry leaned in.

“We’re not going to shag in your entryway, Teddy,” he whispered.

They made it to the bedroom and fell onto the bed in a tangle of limbs. Harry toed off his shoes and pushed them off the end of the bed while Teddy paused to untie his and drop them to the floor, then began working on Harry’s shirt. Harry lay still beneath him as he worked, running one hand over Teddy’s side, cupping his arse, then arching up as Teddy pushed the shirt away and fastened his mouth over a nipple, laving it with his tongue, sucking deliberately while Harry writhed beneath him, hands in Teddy’s hair, holding his head against him.

“Good…so good…fuck….” he moaned, fumbling awkwardly with Teddy’s shirt buttons as Teddy moved to his other nipple, moving his hand to the first, pinching it, hard and tight, releasing it then pinching it again, a perfect mix of pleasure and pain, while Harry groaned and pushed up against him.

It seemed to take forever to get their clothes off. Shirts and trousers and pants and socks and finally, finally, they were naked, on their sides, holding each other, kissing lips and chins and necks and ears. Taking their time to learn each other, Harry learning to mold to this larger body, to map the plains of smooth skin and lean muscles. Whispering _you’re gorgeous_ , holding tightly, frotting slowly, caressing biceps and shoulders and backs and pectorals. Fingers grazing over nipples. Tracing a gentle line from navel to groin.

Teddy. Surprising, wonderful, _where were you my whole life?_ Teddy.

And at some point, as Teddy kissed his shoulder, teased him by skirting over his crease, cupping his bollocks, Harry stopped thinking about it. About the impossibility of this happening, now, with Teddy. 

The two of them. Panting, Slowing. Circling In a holding pattern. Waiting. Harry’s head on Teddy’s heart. Breathing.

Finally, at last, Harry rolled on top of Teddy. He leaned in, mouth working the skin over the clavicle into a bruise, then put his mouth on Teddy’s ear, sucked the lobe, whispered roughly.

“ I want you to fuck me, Teddy.”

Teddy’s hands came up to frame Harry’s face, lifting it up until they were gazing eye to eye. A smile flitted across his mouth, settling into his blue-grey eyes. He didn’t ask Harry if he was sure. He rolled them both over with ease, palming Harry’s cock while the other hand scrambled in the bedside drawer for the lube. And then he was positioning Harry, on his stomach, knees wide and under him, sweeping his hand down his side while he slicked up his fingers and slid them into Harry’s crease.

Harry moaned as the fingers slid over him, teasing him, then pushed back eagerly as one entered, sliding in to the first knuckle then withdrawing. 

“Fuck, Teddy.” He was already panting. “More. Give me more….”

Teddy took his time, a single finger, two, three. Harry was practically writhing, panting, pushing back into him as he fucked him with his hand, tensing the muscles of his back, his thighs, feeling Teddy’s arm around his waist pulling him back on his fingers, again and again and again, setting a building rhythm.

And then the fingers were gone, and Harry very nearly snarled with the loss, but the hands were there, calloused fingers gripping his hips, as Teddy lined up the head of his cock and pressed the first inch in, stretching him with a welcome burn so that he bit he arm to strangle the cry, panting above him as gripped the covers tightly, dropping his chest down as Teddy’s hand slid to the middle of his back and pressed down just as Harry pressed backward, begging for more.

He hadn’t felt like this for…he hadn’t had anyone, _anyone_ ….

No one else had ever fucked him. No one but Jack. He’d topped on the rare occasions a relationship had gotten this far.

“Fuck, Harry. Fuck. You’re so tight. I could do this forever…fuck….”

Teddy drew out the word as he pressed in another inch, straining to take it slow, edging into Harry as Harry groaned.

“So full…fuck, Teddy. So full. So good.”

He’d come if he touched himself.

His balls were tight, his cock leaking, slapping up against his stomach as he pushed himself onto Teddy’s cock. His body was spun tight, coiling in his groin, and the world had become cock and arse and Teddy’s rough hands on his hips, and the sweat dripping from Teddy’s face, and the aching fullness, the slide of cock, too slow, too slow.

He rutted backward and that magnificent cock slid home, grazing his prostate on the first pass, sending frissons of pleasure through him, stars pulsing behind his eyelids, until his knees almost collapsed.

“Harry….” Teddy’s voice was a plea.

And Teddy pulled out and slid in, pulled out again, nearly freeing his cockhead, then slammed home, burying himself in Harry, again and again, as Harry begged for more, alive, finally, in this claiming, in this giving.

He didn’t think he could take any more. He was so full, so focused, that when Teddy’s hand slipped over his cock, squeezed and twisted, the sensation was almost painfully torturous, _too much…too much_ and he came with a strangled shout, nearly collapsing as Teddy’s weight fell onto him, pounding still, pounding, then stilling, pulsing, wrapping his arms around Harry, pulling him back into the cocoon of his arms, cradling him as they fell, as both of them pulsed and shuddered and sunk into each other.

They lay there, heartbeats slowing, breathing together, until Harry turned in Teddy’s arms and kissed his mouth, then lay his head in the crook of Teddy’s neck.

“That was brilliant,” he said. “You were brilliant. I haven’t…that was the best…the first time since….”He choked back a sob, then let out a strangled laugh.

But Teddy was holding him, rocking him. “It’s alright, Harry,” he whispered. Then, “I know. I know.”

And Harry didn’t think Teddy knew. Not really. 

He fell asleep in Teddy’s arms, and slept more peacefully than he had since Jack left him.

~*~

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for Harry Potter and Teddy Lupin. They both worked too much, and gave too much away, and had a strange need to make everyone else happy before themselves. And Teddy, unused to the attention of the Wizarding World, swore he was going to leave the U.K. altogether if the _Prophet_ didn’t leave them alone once and for all.

Sometimes Teddy felt like he was crossing generational lines, especially at the Burrow when all the cousins were visiting, and Harry was sitting with George and Percy while Louis and Fred were trying to get Teddy to come out and play Quidditch. And it was odd, wasn’t it, the first time he kissed Harry in front of Gran, the first time they posed in a family photo with Gran and Gramps and Gwen and Max and the twins.

“You’re going to get tired of me some day,” Harry told him, early on, when the Prophet ran yet another story about over-the-hill-cradle-robbing Harry Potter in an illicit incestuous affair with his godson.

“I’ll never get tired of you,” said Teddy.

“I’ll never get tired of you,” he said, when he was buried inside Harry, Harry’s legs folded up against his chest, his liquid green eyes fixed on Teddy, sweat on his brow, Teddy’s name on his lips. 

“I’ll never get tired of you,” he said, when Harry pushed him against the wall when he came in the door, and deep-throated him just there, just inside the doorway, just outside the view of old Mrs. Harmon peering through her window across the street.

 

“I’ll never get tired of you,” he said when Harry came through that door after a week in Florence or three days in Glasgow, and Harry kissed him, and told him he’d missed him, then dragged him out for Thai at the little hole-in-the-wall on the corner, then let him bend him over the couch and fuck him properly.

“I’ll never get tired of you,” he said, when Harry nodded off on his shoulder, while they sat on the uncomfortable chairs in the visitor’s lounge at St. Mungo’s, waiting to hear about Gramps. “I’m tired of waiting. And of not knowing. And of this horrid swill that passes for tea here, but I’ll never get tired of you.”

And Harry squeezed his hand.

He’d stopped arguing with Teddy about that a long time ago. 

_fin_


End file.
